Fenders of a vehicle are mounted on a front portion of the vehicle on both the driver side and the passenger side. The fenders each present an outer surface that is designed with a shape and size that provides desired aerodynamics and a desired aesthetic appearance. The outer surface is a class-A surface, i.e., a surface specifically manufactured to have a high quality, finished aesthetic appearance free of blemishes. The class-A surface may be painted.
The fenders each present an inner surface opposite the outer surface. The inner surface is sealed to various components of the vehicle to minimize noise, vibration, and/or harshness (NVH). As one example, the vehicle includes a bodyside, which may be formed of sheet metal, to which exterior components such as the fender, doors, etc., are mounted. A foam pad is adhered to the inner surface of the fender and extends from the inner surface to the bodyside to minimize noise and water intrusion. The foam pad typically abuts the bodyside below an A-pillar of the vehicle and is resiliently trapped between the fender and the bodyside along a door line of the vehicle.
The foam pad will not withstand high temperatures associated with the paint process when painting the fender. As such, an additional manufacturing step is required to adhere the foam pad to the inner surface of the fender after the painting process. This additional assembly step is time consuming and, thus, increases the cost to manufacture the fender.
The foam pad provides an imprecise seal between the fender and the bodyside. The subsequent step of adhering the foam pad after the painting process may introduce inaccuracies in the placement of the foam pad relative to the fender. In addition, inaccuracies in the shape of the foam pad may arise from the manufacturing process of the foam pad. Each of these inaccuracies are typically accounted for by designing the foam pad to be oversized to ensure that the foam pad is resiliently pinched between the fender and the bodyside when the fender is assembled to the vehicle. However, the oversized design of the foam pad disadvantageously results in unnecessary material usage, weight, bulkiness, etc.
As another example of sealing between the fender and other components of the vehicle, a bulb seal may be supported by the inner surface to seal between the fender and a hood of the vehicle. Similar to the foam pad, the bulb seal will not withstand the high temperatures associated with the paint process when painting the fender. As such, an additional assembly step is required to attach the bulb seal to the fender after the painting process. This additional assembly step is time consuming and, thus, increases the cost to manufacture the fender.
An opportunity remains to design a fender that precisely seals to other components of the vehicle and reduces manufacturing and assembly complexity and inaccuracies.